Path 2

Path 2

Thompson: Charge Cars By the Pound

November 24, 2008

William Thompson has a novel idea for raising MTA revenue: start charging car owners extra to register their vehicles — and the more they weigh, the more they’ll pay. The biennial fee is currently $30 for non-commercial vehicles; Thompson wants the minimum raised in the 12 counties where the MTA runs lines to $100 for cars weighing up to 2,300 pounds, and an extra nine cents for every pound thereafter. Thompson tells the New York Times “New York’s transit riders are being asked to cover [the MTA’s] budget shortfalls,” and this helps share to pain with — well, non-riders, or riders who also have cars, we guess. WPIX elucidates: “A Toyota Yaris for example, a light and fuel efficient car, would cost an additional $100 to register while a Lincoln Navigator, one of the heaviest, would cost an additional $430.” Thompson also calls for the reinstatement of the commuter tax, which was suspended in 1999.